Native to Malaysia or western Melanesia; probably an aboriginal introduction
to Melanesia and western Polynesia, and a recent introduction to eastern
Polynesia and to some atoll countries. Perennial shrub, up to 2 m or higher,
with attractive, rather curved and coarsely crisped, dark or bright red,
red-green, or green leaves, which are often mottled or variegated with various
shades of red, dark pink, white, or bronzy green. Common to abundant in home
gardens, often as a hedge or living fence; occasional in rural garden areas and
in urban landscaping. Planted ornamental, boundary, and hedge plant; leaves used
medicinally; has important ceremonial and spiritual value in Melanesia

Native to South-East Asia and Malesia; possibly an aboriginal introduction to
parts of Melanesia and western Polynesia, and a recent introduction to Hawaii
and elsewhere. Medium-sized, deciduous tree, 6-15 m or higher, with bipinnate
leaves; greenish white to yellowish, sweetly fragrant flowers; and
flattened, linear at first, becoming curved or contorted, brown pods bearing
dark or bright red, hard, lensshaped seeds. Common in cultivation and as a
protected tree in garden areas and mature fallow forests throughout the Pacific;
not generally found on atolls, although two specimens were seen on Funafuti,
Tuvalu. Hard, durable wood used in construction and for furniture and firewood;
seeds used in necklaces, body ornamentation, and handicrafts; endosperm eaten,
mainly by children, the cooked seeds being sold commercially at the market in
Western Samoa.

Probably indigenous to tropical Asia, but now Palaeotropical from Africa to
Australia; a recent introduction to most Pacific Islands; not found on atolls.
Large to medium tree, 10-20 m high, with bipinnate leaves; fragrant
yellowish to whitish flowers; and flat, pale, straw-coloured, few-seeded pods.
Commonly planted as a shade tree or ornamental in rural areas, plantations, home
gardens, and along roadsides; abundantly naturalized along roadsides, stream
banks, and in secondary vegetation in Vanuatu, Fiji, and Saipan. Planted
ornamental; wood used in general construction, for firewood, and for wood
carving; pods used occasionally as cattle feed. A. falcataria and A.
procera are both important in some areas, such as in Hawaii, where A.
falcataria is widely used in reforestation.

4. Aleuritesmoluccana (L.) Willd. EUPHORBIACEAE
"candlenut"

Indigenous to Malaysia, probably an aboriginal introduction to most of
Melanesia, Polynesia, and parts of Micronesia, and a recent introduction into
some areas such as

Guam. Tree 10-25 m tall, with light green, downy, palmately-lobed leaves;
small greenish yellow to white flowers; and globose fruit containing hard,
woody, bony, brownish black seeds with an oil-rich kernel (endosperm). Commonly
planted or protected in gardens and on farms, along trails, and in home gardens;
often planted as living fencing or as boundary markers; common in mature fallow
forest and naturalized in many areas, mainly in disturbed sites, but rarely
found in deep forest. Tree features in Polynesian legends and proverbs and is
the state tree of Hawaii; planted ornamental or boundary tree; timber used in
light construction, canoe hulls, and for firewood; extract of roots, bark, and
fruit skin provides black to reddish dye; leaves and flowers used in leis in
Hawaii; seed kernels strung together and ignited to provide light; oil from seed
kernel used as a hair and skin conditioner; seeds burnt to provide ash used to
dye bark cloth black and for tattooing; baked and pounded kernels eaten as a
relish in Hawaii; uncooked kernel a strong purgative; oil formerly exported from
Hawaii and Fiji.

Indigenous from Sumatra and the Philippines to the Society Islands (related
species found from New Guinea to Hawaii). Medium to large tree, 5-25 m high,
with leaves that are bright green above and white tomentose beneath; small white
to greenish white flowers; and clusters of small purple fruit. Common in gardens
and recent fallow areas, savanna lands, mature fallow forests, open forest, and
occasionally in primary forest; often protected when clearing new garden areas;
infrequently in home gardens. Durable and straight-grained wood used in
construction, for furniture, canoes and canoe paddles, tools and tool handles,
digging sticks, and for firewood; bark and leaves used medicinally; leaves used
as a soap substitute.

6. Annonamuricata L. ANNONACEAE "soursop"

Native to tropical America; a pre-World War 11 introduction into most of the
Pacific Islands. Small tree, rarely over 8 m tall, with bright green oblong or
oblongelliptic, glossy leaves; yellowish green flowers; and oblong or ovoid,
irregularly kidney-shaped, green to yellowish green fruit, covered with
regularly-spaced, short, slightly curved, fleshy spines, and having white,
juicy, somewhat acid, aromatic, cotton-like, edible pulp and hard, dark brown to
black seeds. Commonly cultivated in home gardens and occasional in rural garden
areas on volcanic and raised limestone islands; occasionally naturalized; not
found on atolls. Ripe fruit eaten raw, often with ice cream, and made into
drinks.

7. Arecacatechu L. ARECACEAE/PALMAE "betel-nut
palm," "betel-nut"

Indigenous to southern Asia, Indonesia, and possibly the Philippines; an
aboriginal introduction into Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, and western
Micronesia; a recent introduction into Fiji, Samoa, and other areas.
Singlestemmed erect palm, up to 15 m tall, with a slender, pale gray-green trunk
with well-spaced, gray-white rings; pinnate fronds; and small, hard, red
or orange ovoidoblong fruit. Commonly planted in garden areas and in home
gardens in western Melanesia and western Micronesia; often found in dense groves
near villages; planted by South Indians in Fiji. Often planted as an ornamental;
timber useful, the outer wood used for walling, flooring, or battens; husk and
other parts of the fruit used medicinally; kernel (endosperm) of green and
mature fruit chewed as an astringent and stimulant, often with the leaves or
fruit of betel-pepper (Piper betle) and lime; fruit a major commercial
crop for local sale in Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, and the Caroline
Islands of Micronesia.

Indigenous to Malaysia, probably an aboriginal introduction into most of
Melanesia, Polynesia, and Micronesia, and a more recent introduction into some
of the smaller islands and atolls. Medium to large tree, 10-15 m high, with
thick, milky sap; large, variable, entire to deeply lobed leaves; and large,
globose to oblong, light green to yellow fruit studded with a grid-like network
of tubercles and with creamy white to yellowish, edible flesh. Common to
abundant in garden areas, mature fallow forests, village tree groves, and in
home gardens on both high islands and atolls; absent on drier atolls, such as
Tamana and Arorae in southern Kiribati. Trunk used for canoe hulls and
occasionally in house construction; inner bark used to make bark cloth in some
areas; sap used for caulking canoes, adhesive for bark cloth, and as
chewing-gum; leaves used for wrapping food for cooking, for parcelling of fresh
food, and as plates; meristem used medicinally; dried inflorescence burnt as a
mosquito repellent; fruit eaten cooked as a major or supplementary staple food
in most areas of Polynesia and Micronesia, and as a supplementary staple in most
of Melanesia; cooked or raw fruit preserved in pits or by sun-drying. Many named
cultivars exist in most areas. A. mariannensis, which is
reportedly indigenous to Guam, is also common throughout Micronesia and also
present, possibly as an aboriginal introduction, in Tuvalu and Tokelau in
Polynesia. Interspecific hybrids, A. altilis x mariannensis, exist
in most areas of Micronesia.

Indigenous to South-East Asia and of ancient cultivation in India; a
postEuropeancontact introduction into the Pacific Islands. Tree up to 20 m high,
with white, resinous latex; dark green, coriaceous leaves; and a very large,
yellow-green to golden-yellow, somewhat oblong-cylindric, occasionally
distorted, edible fruit. Commonly planted on smallholder Indian cane farms in
Fiji, mostly in home gardens, and occasional in rural gardens and home gardens
in other areas of the Pacific. Planted fruit-tree; pulp of ripe fruit eaten raw
as a fruit or cooked as a supplementary staple, commonly in curries by Indians
in Fiji; sold locally in Fiji; seed edible; heartwood useful for general
construction.

Indigenous from Indonesia and the Philippines to Fiji, and to the Caroline
Islands in Micronesia; probably an aboriginal introduction from Fiji into Tonga,
Samoa, Uvea, and Futuna. Medium to large tree, 5-20 m high, with bright green,
ovate to elliptical or lanceolate, somewhat coriaceous, leaves; whitish flowers;
and a large, rough, subglobose, light brown fruit. Occasional in garden areas,
in home gardens, in mature fallow forest, and common to occasional in lowland
forest and grassland thickets; commonly protected when clearing for new gardens.
Timber used in light construction for posts, poles, and canoe spars; leafy
branchlets, with the leaves attached, used in Fiji to thatch or insulate the
outside walls of houses; leaves used for ceremonial decoration of houses in the
Solomon Islands; inner bark used medicinally to treat high blood pressure in
Fiji and diarrhoea in the Solomon Islands; skins of fruit pounded and shredded
to make canoe caulking and to adhere inlay in carvings in the Solomon Islands;
crushed seeds used to scent coconut oil in Fiji, Tonga, Samoa, and Uvea.

Indigenous to tropical Asia, but an early post-European-contact introduction
into most Pacific Islands. Giant perennial, clump-forming, woody grass with
segmented green to yellowish stems, up to 15 m tall and 8 cm wide. Commonly
planted and naturalized and forming large stands, particularly in alluvial sites
throughout the high-island Pacific; also introduced but not established on some
atolls. Woody stems widely used in construction, for fencing, handicrafts,
making rafts, cages, knives, net-mending needles, fishing poles, floats for
fishing nets, fruit-picking poles, irrigation conduits, musical instruments,
fencing, containers for food, water, and for cooking food over an open fire, and
as fuel wood; parts used medicinally.

Indigenous species of Barringtonia are found throughout Melanesia,
from which a range of cultivars have been selected and possibly
distributed as far east as Fiji and Samoa prior to European contact. Tree, 6-20
m high, with obovate-oblong to oblanceolate leaves, white, yellow, or pink
tinged flowers and long, pendant clusters of green to purple fruits containing a
white, edible kernel. Commonly to occasionally planted or protected around
villages and in home gardens; occasional in garden areas, in mature fallow
forest, and in dense and open forest, or on the edge of forests from sealevel to
400 m; generally protected when clearing for new gardens. Light wood used for
canoe paddles, casing, light construction, and for quick-burning firewood; bark
used medicinally for stomach ailments and gonorrhoea in the Solomon Islands;
mature seed kernels eaten raw or cooked and sold at local produce markets;
cooked for storage in the eastern Solomon Islands.

Indigenous from India and South China through Indonesia and the Philippines
eastward into the Pacific Islands; although probably native as far east as Fiji,
it may be an aboriginal introduction to Samoa, Tonga, Uvea, Futuna, and the Cook
and Society Islands, and probably a recent introduction into Hawaii. Large
dioecious tree, 530 m high, with reddish wood; bright green, trifoliate leaves;
many small, greenish or yellowish flowers in panicles; and small, globose fruit.
Common in lowland forest, on the forest edge, in thickets, along streams, and in
degraded savanna and grasslands; one of the commonest trees in garden areas and
mature fallow forest, and occasional in villages and home gardens; although
commonly severely pruned or pollarded, it is usually protected or survives
during the clearance of new garden areas, due to its high resistance to fire,
felling, and ringbarking. Durable and water resistant timber used in light
construction, as a favoured house post, and as firewood; red-brown dye and
tannin for the tape-making process derived from the bark, and sometimes from the
roots; leaves and bark used medicinally; branches cut in Tonga to provide
trellising for yams; leaves cooked with, often to tenderize, pork; fruits a
favoured food of pigeons, doves, and other frugivorous birds.

Indigenous to China, Japan, and probably Burma and Thailand; an aboriginal
introduction throughout Malesia, Melanesia, and Polynesia as far east as Hawaii.
Slender, erect shrub or tree, up to 8 m high, with densely hairy branches, milky
latex, and tough best fibre; variable ovate to cordate, scabrous, lobed or
entire, serrate or toothed leaves; small flowers (although rarely flowering) in
axillary clusters; and pulpy, club-shaped fruit. Commonly cultivated in garden
areas and around villages from near sealevel in Fiji, Tonga, and Samoa and in
some areas of lowland and highland New Guinea; found mainly as a relict in other
areas of Polynesia; not reported present in Micronesia or on atolls, except as a
recent introduction to Yap; common in abandoned gardens and occasionally
naturalized; occasional in home gardens. Often planted in monocultural plots,
often following the harvest of yams in Tonga; best fibre treated and pounded to
make fibre and bark cloth (tape cloth), which is used un-dyed or variously,
often intricately, dyed and/or painted; fibre used for toilet paper, bandages,
clothing, ceremonial dress, string bags, cordage, interior decorations, and
ornamentation; large painted tape cloths a major item of ceremonial exchange in
parts of Papua New Guinea, Fiji, and Polynesia; tape cloth an important
commercial and export item in Fiji and Tonga, and to a lesser extent Samoa.

Indigenous to East Africa, the Indian Ocean, and tropical Asia to Tonga and
Samoa in western Polynesia and to Nauru and the Marshall and Gilbert Islands in
eastern Micronesia; a recent introduction into areas of eastern Polynesia, such
as Hawaii. Small to large-sized tree, up to 20 m or higher, with inconspicuously
buttressed trunks; thick, leathery, brittle, oblong-elliptic leaves; greenish
yellow to bright red flowers; and an elongated spindle-shaped, ribbed,
pre-germinated fruit. Abundant in tidal swamps and river mouths, and occasional
in landlocked sink-holes and depressions; commonly borders agricultural lands,
protecting them from sea spray, storm surge, and salt-water incursion. Planted
in coastal areas and near fish-ponds for coastal protection and stabilization;
hard and durable wood used in general construction, for tool handles and digging
sticks, and considered to be one of the best fuel woods; pre-germinated seed
(fruit) eaten cooked, after scraping or grating, washing, and drying (to remove
tannins) and sometimes mixed with coconut in Melanesia and Nauru; fruit sold as
a vegetable at Honiara Market; extract of bark used as a dye and preservative
(tannin) for bark cloth; bark used medicinally as an abortifacient and for
treating burns in the Solomon Islands; skin of seed used to prepare a black dye
for traditional skirts in Nauru; flowers used in garlands.

Indigenous to India and South-East Asia; a post-European-contact introduction
into Fiji and many other countries. Erect, short-lived, perennial pubescent
shrub, 1-3 m or higher, with pinnately trifoliate leaves; bright yellow flowers,
marked with dark reddish brown to crimson; and linear-oblong, flattened,
inflated pods bearing globose, compressed, cream-coloured to reddish or brownish
or speckled seeds. Abundant on sugar-cane farms and occasional in home gardens,
especially in the dry zone of Fiji; infrequent in other areas of the Pacific,
where it has been widely introduced. Cultivated food plant; a major
supplementary staple crop and source of plant protein for the Fiji Indian
population; important nitrogen-fixing intercrop or supplementary crop on
sugar-cane farms; immature pods cooked as a vegetable and mature seeds dried and
cooked as a protein-rich pulse; plant remains used as fodder or green manure;
dried stems also occasionally used as fuel.

Indigenous from tropical Africa to eastern Polynesia and Micronesia; possibly
an aboriginal introduction to some islands. Medium to large, hard-wooded, slow
growing tree, 10-20 m tall, with a broad, low-branching, spreading crown; dark
green, stiff, leathery leaves; showy, waxy, white, very fragrant flowers; and
green to purple-black, globose, hard fruit containing a single, somewhat
poisonous, oil-rich kernel. Common to abundant in coastal forest and the
dominant component of the pre-phosphate-mining vegetation of Nauru, Banaba
(Ocean Island), and Makatea; occasionally planted or protected in inland gardens
and home gardens and planted along roadsides. Tree sacred in parts of eastern
Polynesia, where it features in legends and was planted around temples; timber
favoured for construction, wood carving, and canoe hulls; sticky sap used for
caulking canoes; leaves used medicinally; kernel of green and mature fruit
crushed to yield oil that is used to scent coconut oil and applied to hair to
make it long and black; old, decayed fruit skewered on coconut midribs and
burned as traditional Nauruan light; mature fruit burned as a mosquito
repellent; the seed kernel (known commercially as "punnai nut")
yielding a dark green oil formerly exported from Fiji.

Native to South-East Asia, the Philippines, and northern Australia and
possibly as far east as the Solomon and Caroline Islands; an aboriginal
introduction in parts of

Melanesia and to Polynesia, but a recent introduction to Hawaii and some
other smaller islands of the eastern Pacific. Tree, up to 15 m or taller, with a
crooked trunk; smooth, grey bark; drooping, brittle branches; very fragrant,
drooping, yellowish green turning yellow, spider-like flowers with wavy,
linear-lanceolate petals; and oblong, gray-green to black, fleshy fruits
containing numerous seeds. Common in home gardens and occasional as a planted or
protected tree in garden areas; occasional to common in fallow forests, open
forests, and on the edges of forests where it has become naturalized; generally
protected when clearing new areas for cultivation. Timber used in general
construction, for canoe making, and occasionally for firewood; flowers used in
garlands and for scenting coconut oil; leaves and bark used medicinally; of
considerable cultural importance throughout Melanesia and Polynesia; used in the
commercial production of perfume and perfumed soap in Fiji and of essential oil
in the Philippines and Indonesia; fruit a preferred pigeon food.

C. indicum is indigenous to Malaya, Indonesia, and New Guinea, and C.
vulgare to Malaya and Indonesia, both are possibly aboriginal
introductions into parts of Melanesia and recent introductions into other
islands; other species seem to be native to and cultivated in New Guinea and
other islands of Melanesia and Polynesia as far east as Samoa and Niue, and
possibly aboriginal introductions into some of these areas. Medium to large
trees up to 30 or 40 m high; with oddpinnate compound leaves; white to
creamy white or yellow, racemose flowers; and ovoid, green to purplish, bluish,
or black, hard-shelled fruit containing an oil-rich seed kernel. Commonly
planted around villages and in home gardens and common in mature lowland
forests, fallow forests, thickets, and in garden areas throughout Melanesia;
occasional in Fiji, Tonga, Samoa, and Niue in lowland forest and garden areas.
Occasionally used as a shade tree in plantations. Timber suitable for light
construction, canoes, bowls, and firewood; rotten logs a source of edible insect
larvae; bark used medicinally for chest pains in the western Solomon Islands;
edible, oil-rich seed kernels highly prized and constitute a major component of
the diet throughout most of Melanesia, except in Fiji; a major item of
inter-island trade and sold commercially, often as snack food; often stored
either in the shell or after baking and drying; often mixed with staple root
crops, added to soups, or eaten with megapode eggs in the Solomon Islands; oil
from kernel used for lighting in past.

20. Caricapapaya L. CARICACEAE "papaya, "
"pawpaw"

Indigenous to tropical America; an early post-European-contact introduction
to the Pacific Islands. Soh-wooded, un- or few-branched, rather palm-like,
small, quick growing tree, up to 4 m or higher, with thick, hollow, tapering,
nearly smooth trunks or stems with light bark and numerous, almost heart-shaped,
leaf-scars; copious, thick, sticky, irritating milky sap; leaves drop as the
tree grows; numerous, white or cream-coloured, fragrant flowers; and variably
shaped, subglobose or pear-shaped to cylindrical, green turning yellow or orange
fruit, with orange to red-orange edible flesh and numerous small, gray-green,
mucilaginous seeds. Abundant throughout the Pacific in home gardens and rural
crop lands as an intercrop in shifting agricultural systems; planted in
monocultural orchards in Fiji, Tonga, and Rarotonga; widely naturalized in
fallow areas and waste places; grows well in the calcareous soils of atolls.
Cultivated fruit-tree, grown throughout the Pacific for local sale and in some
areas, such as Hawaii, Fiji, Tonga, and the Cook Islands, as an export crop;
ripe fruit eaten or made into jam; fruit known to be a laxative; green fruit
cooked in curries as a vegetable in Fiji; juice and flesh from green fruit
(which contains the enzyme papain) used to tenderize pork, beef, and fish; white
sap from small immature fruit used as a cure for ringworm; fragrant flowers used
in garlands; hollow leaf petioles used by children as "pea shooters"
for the fruit of Tournefortiaargentea.